


Halo: Crimson

by Lord_Arbiter



Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, Halo - Freeform, Halo 3, Halo 4, Halo Reach, Halo: Crimson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-02 17:43:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11514279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lord_Arbiter/pseuds/Lord_Arbiter
Summary: Follow James Murdoch, a Spartan-IV supersoldier, through various missions and events. Chapters taking place in 2557 are in chronological order, chapters with earlier dates are flashbacks, which will be out of order but marked with dates/events.James is the leader of Fireteam Crimson. Along with him are Spartans Alice Walker and Allen Jacoby. Together or alone, they must serve the UNSC on the Forerunner planet Requiem.I am not affiliated in any way with Microsoft, Bungie, or 343 Industries. Anything written here is purely fiction, and resemblance to real people is entirely coincidental.This story means to serve as a filler for my Halo 4 Spartan-IV. I run a roleplay blog with this character on Tumblr, at sierra747.tumblr.com





	1. Prologue

**OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE**

**CLASSIFIED://: SPARTAN-IV JAMES CAMERON MURDOCH, CODENAME SIERRA 747**

**FILE 00://: PROLOGUE**

**FILE 00 BEGIN/:**

**YEAR 2535; PLANET REACH**

A little boy walked down the hallway of the UNSC building, holding his mother’s hand. The building was part of a small complex, nestled in a mostly unpopulated area of the planet Reach. The campus hosted a barracks, an armory, and a few other buildings as well as housing for the station’s permanent residents. The station served mainly for science and research purposes, with a small guard garrison. Currently, a squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers were on station in the research building, fully armored. They had located a strange object in one of the outer colonies while fighting rebel forces, and were instructed to bring it to this facility.

The ODST’s were standing around in a lobby in the building, waiting for discharge orders. As the boy and his mother passed, the boy stopped, staring at them in awe. He had never seen one before.

“Come on, James,” the mother said. After another moment, the boy turned and caught up with his mom.

“When I grow up, I wanna be one of them!” the boy said, as his mother led him down towards her office.

 

**FILE 00://: END**

 


	2. Contact

**OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE**

**CLASSIFIED://:  SPARTAN-IV JAMES CAMERON MURDOCH, CODENAME SIERRA 747**

**FILE 01://: Contact**

**FILE 01 BEGIN:/**

**YEAR 2557; SHIELD 0001 "REQUIEM"**

Spartan James Murdoch half-walked, half-ran to the Spartan staging area onboard the UNSC _Infinity_. The ship had just crashed into the surface of a Forerunner planet, after coming under attack by an unknown satellite. Now, it was being assaulted by not only the Covenant, but Forerunner constructs. Crimson's orders were to secure an area around the Infinity. Multiple other teams, both Spartan and Marine, were under the same orders. Arriving in the staging area, the team dispersed to locate their weapon lockers. Although James had been to the area many times since being aboard the Infinity, he still hated the walk down to the locker marked “747”, as it was located almost in the rear of the staging area. He opened it, to take his pick of his preferred gear. He loaded up a Designated Marksman Rifle, holstering it on his back. He did the same with a Magnum handgun, holstering it to his right thigh. He took out an energy dagger, which he had taken from the first Elite he killed during the Fall of Reach, and attached it to his left thigh. He attached an Active Camouflage module to his armor. As with usual with this specific loadout, he picked a few additions. One would allow him to see his motion sensor while scoped, the other allowing his Camo to recharge faster.

He regrouped with his partner for this operation, a Spartan-IV named Alice Walker. Alice was previously a Spartan-III, and served during the Fall of Reach. As an ODST during that battle, James had encountered her before they became Spartan-IVs. During a mission, James' squad had been instructed to rendezvous with a squad of Spartans and clear out a high-risk UNSC facility. They were often paired together, and were a very solid pair. James was by training a sniper, deadly enough with a DMR and even deadlier with a sniper rifle. Alice complimented this in training as a sort of “tank”: She preferred heavier armor, usually sporting an Assault Rifle and a Magnum. On Reach, Alice preferred Armor Lock as her armor ability. That had long since been decommissioned, and now preferred to use the Regeneration ability, allowing her quicker shield recharge. Alice would distract the enemy. Drawing attention and fire, as James would sneak to a vantage point and decimate the enemy from cover. Scores of Covenant had fallen to this tactic on Reach, Earth, and on various ops they had served together on since becoming Spartan-IVs.

“Ready?” James asked her. She was polishing her assault rifle. Although formally, James was the team leader, he generally consulted for her advice and opinions.

“Yeah. Let's do this. Can't wait to mow down some Covie bastards.” She picked up her rifle, holstering it in the same fashion as James.

“Y'know, it's strange. We had a truce with the Covenant back on Earth, after the Ark. Why are they attacking us now?”

“Could be a rogue sect. Still, they're outfitted just as strongly as the old Covenant. Not to be taken lightly.” The pair exited the staging area into one of _Infinity's_ hangars.  The pair boarded a Pelican, along with another pair of Spartans and a 4-man Spartan fireteam. One of the other Spartans, Allen Jacoby, said, “Put on your helmets, guys. Commander Palmer's got orders for us.

James donned his MJOLNIR Mk. VI helmet. Like many other Spartans, James' armor was a patchwork of various configurations. His helmet, arm and leg armor were all MJOLNIR Mk VI armor, made prominent by many Spartan-II soldiers, especially the Master Chief John-117. His chest armor was an Engineer's armor, and his shoulder pauldrons were that of a Rogue. He had trained in both of these specializations, as well as all the others that a Spartan-IV were allowed to train in. His primary specialization, though, was as an Operator. He could pilot or drive nearly any vehicle, UNSC or Covenant. As an ODST, he had led the charge against the Covenant on the Ark in a Scorpion tank, and later that battle, had flown a Hornet alongside the Master Chief. He'd flown Falcons during the Fall of Reach, and was once dropped into a Covenant-controlled area where he had commandeered a Revenant and escaped to regroup with his squad.

James listened to Commander Palmer's orders. The 4-man team, assigned the moniker 'Thunderbolt' for this op, would be dropped at a choke point near the Infinity, with orders to hold the point and let no one, Covenant or otherwise, through. The other 2-man team, simply assigned as 'Purple', would be dropped at a point where there was a significant Covenant presence moving toward Infinity, with orders to keep them at bay until a team of marines with heavy equipment could arrive for backup. James and Alice, given the codename 'Crimson', would be getting dropped at a similar point to Purple, but instead of defending a Covenant advance, they'd be dropped behind the detachment and were to clear their way to a Forerunner structure where Commander Lasky and his men were taking up arms to defend Infinity.

Crimson was the last team to be dropped. They were in a dense forest. The pair unsheathed their main weapons, advancing through the brush cautiously. Their motion sensors didn't register any readings as of yet, but that didn't mean much. The reports of these new Forerunner enemies, referred to as Prometheans, would simply show up out of nowhere, in huge numbers. Although the Covenant were their primary targets, they could have to engage Prometheans at a moment's notice. As they moved through the forest, they started to see little blips on their motion sensors, appearing and then disappearing. They drew up their guns, ready to engage. Then, they emerged into a small clearing. One single Promethean was in the clearing, flying above the ground. It spotted the two Spartans, and began projecting some kind of beam onto the ground. The pair opened fire, but it was too late. They destroyed the construct, but a whole group of dog-like constructs appeared where the projection had been. They quickly opened fire, with semi-automatic and fully automatic weapons. They seemed to almost be projectiles of pure, hard light.

“Shit!” shouted James, dodging the bullets. A few connected, but the armor's shields absorbed those that did. He activated his Active Camo, fading into the background and quickly moving into the trees. Alice threw down her regeneration field, sending volley after volley of bullets at the Prometheans. James, hidden now in the brush, took aim with his DMR. Maybe if other life forms were killed by being shot in the head, maybe these would too. He took aim at the head of one of the constructs, and fired. Sure enough, it exploded into a ball of goo, or something.

“Aim for the head!” James said to Alice through the helmet's local comm channel. After being fired on from a different direction, some of the constructs turned off to find James. He continued firing, and before long, the two Spartans had cleared the area. James' camo had worn off by now, but something compelled him to stay put. And then, something appeared in the clearing. It was clearly another construct, but it was big. Bigger than the Spartans. James, zoomed in with his DMR, could see its face clearly. It looks like a kind of mask. Then, it roared at Alice, and the mask slid back to reveal a skull-like face. It had a huge rifle, bigger and longer than James had ever seen in one hand. In the other, a sword made of hard light. A red circle appeared around the creature's head, and it fired the rifle right at Alice. It was a direct hit to her left shoulder, breaking her shields and throwing her to the ground. A burned mark was left where the shot had hit.

“James, a little help here!” she shouted into her helmet. As she fell, she had dropped her assault rifle on the ground, too far to reach. She pulled her Magnum out, firing at the construct. James reactivated his camo, opening fire on it. It didn't even seem to flinch as it turned towards James. The circle appeared again, along with a beam of light, like a targeting system, aimed right at James' head. He dropped to the ground just as the thing fired, rolling from his previous position.

“Distract him, I'll get behind him and take him from there,” James said to Alice. She had reached her gun, and had managed to stand back up, putting down a regen field. She started to spray the construct with bullets. James quickly snuck around the back of the construct, sheathing his weapon and pulling out his energy dagger. He could see the aiming beam pointing straight at Alice, and knew he needed to be faster. He went into a sprint, deactivating his camo. He reached the construct, stabbing it in the bag with the dagger. Taken off-guard, the construct lost its aim and fired, hitting Alice straight in the chest. Her shields took most of the impact, but still knocked her off her feet. James spun the creature around, grabbing its sword arm and impaling it through the head with its own weapon. It disintegrated into chunks of light, but the rifle was left on the ground. Strangely enough, it didn't look like any gun he had ever seen. It had a joint, where it must have bee attached to the arm of the construct, rather than a trigger. He helped Alice to her feet, giving her his Magnum ammunition and discarding the sidearm on the ground. He picked up the rifle, and it came together into a more rifle-like shape in his hands. It appeared to be a sniper rifle of some sort, but it was massive. Bigger than any sniper rifle he had ever seen. It only had 6 shots total, and it appeared that each clip attached to the body of the gun only held 2 projectiles. He remembered the beam, and made a guess that with so few bullets, it traded ammo for raw power. He turned to Alice.

“We need to move,” James said bluntly. Alice nodded, and they turned and exited the clearing.

* * *

As they moved again through the woods, James inspected the rifle more closely. There was only places on the gun for 2 exterior clips, as well as the one currently in the weapon. The scope functioned like that of a normal sniper rifle, but he noted that it didn't have a scope right after he had killed the creature. He wondered if maybe the gun formed to fit the needs of the user somehow, and the construct could use the rifle's scoping ability through his own eyes. His thoughts were interrupted by Alice, however.

“James. Covenant. 12 O'clock.” He swapped which weapon was sheathed, drawing his DMR. He would save his shots for Elites, or more of those big constructs if he needed. Grunts and Jackals could be dispatched quickly and efficiently with the DMR, with only single shots to the head. They were at a higher level than the Covenant, as they were up on a ridge while the detachment was down in the valley.

“You advance, I'll go around for the flank,” James said. Alice nodded, and James cloaked while heading around the ridge. After a minute or two, he settled into his spot. Zooming in with his DMR, he surveyed the soon-to-be battlefield. There was a plethora of Grunts and Jackals, along with a few Elites to guide them. They seemed to be taking a short reprieve in their advance, as they were simply sitting around in their camp. Some polished weapons, others sat and conversed. The Elites in charge were gathered around a rock, a hologram map displayed with a few red targets painted. Likely discussing battle tactics. James heard footsteps. At first he thought it was Alice, but taking his eyes off the scope of the rifle, he saw her service tag still in the same position he left her. He turned the other way, right into the face of a Jackal sniper. It opened its mouth to yell, to sound the alarm, but James was quicker. He grabbed the Jackal's reptilian mouth, holding it closed, while using his own leg to break the much weaker Jackal's leg. Withdrawing his hand, he stomped on its head with his armored boots, crushing it like a grape. Gruesome.

He scanned his spot, seeing if any other snipers were stationed or if anyone had noticed. Seemingly, they hadn't. He drew the Promethean's rifle, zooming in on the Elite which looked the highest ranking. He could see the guide light, and unfortunately, so did a few Grunts. They shouted in their language to alert the camp, and James pulled the trigger. The Elite was incinerated instantly, dissolving much like the Promethean AI had.

“Open fire!” He said over the comm to Alice. A spray of bullets tore through the ranks. With the remaining bullet in the clip, he incinerated another Elite and switched to his DMR. Swiftly, he took out the Grunts out in the open. For every shot, a grunt dropped. After most of the Grunts had been dispatched, he switched to Jackals. By now, they had turned to face him, shields raised. It only took two shots for every Jackal. One at the exposed hand, one at the head when it flinched. By now, his position had been entirely compromised, but the Elites still had to divide their attention between him and Alice. He redrew the sniper rifle, ejecting the empty clip and inserting a new one. Two more Elites dropped, and while he was reloading, Alice charged from her cover and took down the last Elite. He slid down the edge of the ridge into the valley, picking up two plasma grenades from the Elites. He tossed two to Alice, as well. He far preferred plasma grenades to frags, thanks to their sticky properties and tendency to cause nearby enemies to scatter, giving him a perfect opportunity to strike.

Having cleared the area of Covenant forces, the pair continued their trek. They were getting close to the rendezvous point now.

“Let's turn on our open channels. We've been on local for a while now,” suggested Alice. James agreed, and they switched their comms on. The first thing they heard was Commander Lasky.

"This is Lasky to UNSC _Infinity_. We're up to our necks in bad guys down here! Does anyone read?" Lasky's voice came over loud and clear, and almost immediately there was a response.

"This is Sierra-117 of the UNSC _Forward Unto Dawn_. We're on station, ready to assist."

James recognized that service number. He turned to Alice. “That's the Master Chief! Everyone said he was dead!” James had served with the Master Chief numerous times. As an ODST, he had been onboard the _Pillar of Autumn_ with him all the way back in 2552, after Reach was clearly lost. After that, he was deployed onto the Ark after the Battle for Earth along with 3 tanks. James drove one of those tanks, and the Chief drove another one. Later, approaching the Ark's firing facility, he piloted one of the two Hornets deployed to counter Scarab walkers. After that battle, he was declared MIA, which often was used for Spartans killed in action. After nearly 5 years, James had lost hope for the Master Chief, but some coincidence brought him here. They finally arrived at the rendezvous. Immediately, James noticed the green armor of the Master Chief, as well as Lasky and some marines fighting against Prometheans. After a short firefight, the two Spartans walked up to Lasky.

“Sir. Do we have new orders?” James asked the Commander.

“Yeah. The Chief is clearing a path to an LZ, where we'll be going back to the _Infinity._ ”

 

**FILE 01://: END**

 

 


End file.
